The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-12-19

The Crystals Found In Several Localities
but Not of High Quality.

Geo. F. Kunz in Harp er's Bazaar.
Diamonds have occasionally been found at a
number of localities in the United States; but
the crystals are of infrequent occurrence, and
never in sufficient quantities to warrant any
extended mining for them. The total number
found is not more than two hundred. The
largest authenticated diamond crystal was found
opposite Richmond, at Manchester, Chesterfield
county Virginia. by laborer engaged in grad
ing the streets. Its original weight was 23aa
carats. but it had large flaw in side, and
had been injured by the finder putting it into
an iron furnace in order to prove its genuine
ness. After cutting it weighed IL carats. 1t
passed into the hands of Captain Samuel Dewey,
and was by him named the ''Oninoor," or Sea
of Light John MorriSSey once loaned six thou
sand dollars on it, but, owing to its poor color
and other lmperfectionS. itprobably is not worth
more than ten per cent. of that amount to-day.
number of diamonds weighing one carat each
have been found in North Carolina, at various
times from 1876 up to the present time They
are usually found in the gold washings, asso
clated with gold and other minerals This
debris is usually the result of old gneissoid, and
perhaps the decomposed peridotlte rocks.
diamond weighing Is carats was found
on the Alfred Bright farm in Dysartville, Nc
Dowell county, North Carolina, in the summer
of 1886, by the twelve-year-old Willie Christie,
who was sitting at spring. and saw "a pretty
trick about two feet from where he was sitting.
He picked it up took it home, and laid it on a
shelf. Only after two weeks did he think of
taxing 1T to any one tor identification It was
then sent to New York for valuation 1t IS
quite perfect, but has a faint yellowlsh-gray
tint. These facts were authenticated by the
writer on the spot A number of small stones
have also been found in or near the elastic sand
stone belt in Georgia, most of them in the gold
washings of Hall county Here about forty
diamonds have been found, many OF which were
of fine quality. These diamonds are usually
met with in the refuse of sluice-boxes and long
toms used in mining operations California has
furnished them in many localities. Professor
f. Woeher, or Gdttengen, Germany, discovered
microscopic diamonds the platinum sands of
the Trinity river, and in all the northern coun-
ties of the State drained by the Trinity river;
also in CooSa bay, Oregon, and in Smith river,
Del Norte county. Instances have occurred
where fragments of broken diamonds have ap-
peared among the debris cleaned from the
stamping batteries which reduce gold ore At
diamonds have been found the largest one
weighing q caratS, some of them rose-colored,
some yellow, and some white. The highest
price that has ever been paid for a California
diamond in the rough is five hundred dollars
The probable origin of the South African
diamond is explained by Cohen Roscoe, and
Lewis derived from eruptive rock, which
forced through beds of carbonaceous shale,
thoroughly breaking up the carbon, that it
disseminated through the volcanic rock
This heating of the shale has released. as Roscoe
found, volatile hydrocarbon, from which he
thinks the diamond was formed. similar vol
canic rock, containing a carbonaceous shale
was found in Elliott county, Kentucky, by Mr..
j. S. Diller and the possibility of diamonds
being found there suggested by Professor
Carvill Lewis, and led to systematic search by
Mr.. Diller and the writer, under a mission from
the United States Geological Survey. Diamonds
were not found, and the shale found to con-
tain only 1-:35 much carbon as the South
African rock. Still there is possibility that
layers of the carboniferous and Devonian rocks
elsewhere.